


A Call from Home

by theslashbunny (theplotbunny)



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Shmoop, family fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-16 23:31:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10581744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theplotbunny/pseuds/theslashbunny
Summary: A moment in time for Leonard and Chris, about seven or so years down the road.Originally posted on 04 April 2011 as a gift for bandearg_rois on LJ.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bandearg_Rois](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bandearg_Rois/gifts).



Leonard had just returned to his quarters after shift when his wall comm chimed. He hadn’t even gotten a few feet away from the door yet, so he merely changed his trajectory to walk to his desk - the desk that was covered in different PADDs and data-chips, almost to point of obscuring the picture frames on it. He was going to have to do something about that.

When he sat down at his desk, the screen simply said  _Caller: Home_ and Leonard let himself smile. He’d just talked to Chris three days ago and he wondered what had happened that couldn’t wait for their weekly Friday evening chats - one of the benefits of being married to an admiral, it would seem. Chris called Jim for a weekly status report and then Jim transferred the call to Leonard’s room. It worked out nicely and everyone appreciate a happy - well, happi er \- CMO for the weekends.

As he answered the call, his eyes and part of his attention stayed on the messy desk. If it had been serious, Chris would’ve called from his work line, ensuring that he’d get through. So, Len figured it wouldn’t matter if he multi-tasked a bit. He didn’t like not being able to see the photos he had of his family because of all of the clutter that came with having to sign off on every damn little medical request that went through the ship’s system.

“Hey, Chris. Everything ok?”

“...Hi, Daddy.” At the sound of his daughter’s voice, Leonard whipped his head around so fast that something actually popped in his neck. Yep, that was definitely Joanna on the screen.

“Jo?! What’re you doin’ in San Francisco?” Her pointy chin dropped a few inches and a sheepish smile was on her face as she looked up at him through her -  _those hadn’t been there last call_ \- bangs.

“Well...” Oh God, she uses that tone and it just makes his blood pressure sky-rocket. “I... may... have gotten into a fight with Mom and Clay and then asked Chris if I could stay with him for the summer...” Her smile spread a little, showing off her teeth in an expression that he regularly saw on Jim - one that said,  _See? It’s not really not so bad. Honest. Sorta. ‘Cause I’m totally not telling you everything. But it’s okay, I swear!_ How Leonard’s hair wasn’t grey yet, he’d never know.

Just as he was about to ask her what the fight had been about, a horrible thought crossed his mind. He paled.

“Jo... Your mother  _does_ know you’re in San Francisco, right?” The smile fell from her face.  _Oh God, no..._ “You can’t just run off and -” He saw Chris move into view behind Joanna, leaning over her shoulder with his hands propped on the chair behind her -  _in a position that was bad for his back and a position he’d been lectured on time and again_ \- as he heard his smooth baritone interrupt Leonard’s rant right before it could gain steam.

“Calm down, Len. I talked to Jocelyn when Jo first asked and we’ve spoken since she got here, too. No one is going to accuse us of kidnapping.”  _Oh. Good. Wait..._

“You talked to Jocelyn.” Chris just smiled a bit and responded in the voice he reserved for when he thought Leonard was being particularly slow on the uptake.

“Yes, I talked to Jocelyn.” Chris turned his handsome smirk to Jo. “I think it went quite well, don’t you?” Leonard’s mood just sank further when his daughter actually giggled before responding.

“I certainly think it helped that you were in uniform, and that the comm screen said,” and here she gestured with her hands, using a deeper voice like someone announcing the words on a marquee, “Caller: Admiral Christopher Pike, Starfleet Headquarters!” They both leaned into each other, bent over with chuckles that meant there was probably even more to it than that - and Leonard really hoped that he hadn’t used his “admiral voice”, as Jim called it. He really didn’t need a call from his ex-wife complaining about how intimidating Chris could be. He also didn’t need one about how charming he could be either, but he wasn’t sure which would be worse at this point.

This was not how he’d expected his day to go when he’d woken up this morning. He was brought out of his thoughts by his baby girl’s voice.  
“Oh! And Daddy, I even get school credit for being here!” Leonard vaguely wondered if he’d actually fallen asleep at his desk in Sickbay and was really dreaming. Just what the hell was going on down there?

“Really, baby? How’d’ya manage that?” Chris straightened up, looking even more smug than before - that ability must be a requirement for all Command officers. Leonard had to get it from his husband _and_ from his best friend!

“Joanna McCoy is officially a Junior Assistant to the Admiralty for the summer. She’ll have to come into work with me for four days a week, but then she’ll get some of her school’s Summer Job Shadow program credits.” They let sixteen-year-olds do that?

“Oh! And -” Oh, wow. Joanna was actually _wriggling_ in her seat with excitement as Chris’s smile grew. This could either be very good or very, _very_ bad. “- Chris said that I can even shadow _Admiral BOYCE_ for a few weeks!!” Or you know, it could be a bit of both. “Isn’t that exciting?!”

“...My daughter is going to be job-shadowing the Surgeon General...” Joanna snorted; they were both smirking at him now.   


“Don’t worry, Daddy. I’ll put in a good word for you.” Dammit, Jo was picking this shit up from Chris  _and_ Jim, he just knew it. At least with Jim, he could get some payback...

“Phil’s going to love her.” Well, Chris was right about that. His little brunette beauty could - and would - charm anyone, even the crotchety old Admiral who hadn’t liked him since Chris first informed him that they were dating. … At least the man’s wife liked him....

They all heard a timer  ding and Jo jumped up from her seat, scampering off with a yell of “That must be the pizza! Talk to you later, Daddy!” Once she was gone, Chris eased himself into her chair -  _dammit, that man knew he shouldn’t stand hunched over like that!_ \- and looked at Leonard more seriously. Len could see the lines in his face more clearly and Chris seemed a little tense, a little more tired than he had been while smiling at Jo.

“You  _are_ okay with this, right? I thought I should maybe ask before I agreed, but Jo sounded desperate and Jocelyn even sounded exasperated with her and I -” Leonard interrupted him before he could go any further.

“Chris, you’re her stepfather. I wouldn’t have married you if I couldn’t trust you with my daughter.” If there was anyone he could trust more with Joanna’s well-being than her mother, it was Christopher. “Hell, I’m just glad she likes you enough to want to spend the whole summer with you...” Both men chuckled at that. It had been an honest concern after the way their first meeting had gone. He sobered a bit as he tried to continue. “I just...”  _I just wish I was there with you both._ He was happy that they got along and he was happy that they were together. But he was jealous - of them both.

“You just, what?” A bit of that tension was back in the lines around Chris’s blue eyes.

“Are you sure you’re okay with this? I know Joanna can be persistent and it’s hard to say no to her when she really wants something.” The soft smile was back, the one Chris reserved for three people: Leonard, Jim (when he wasn’t being infuriating), and now Joanna.

“It’s fine, Len.” But was it? Joanna was a handful, sometimes even worse than other girls her age. Even at sixteen, she required a lot of energy from her parents, mostly because she was so inquisitive, always had been. The average four-year-old asked between 300 and 400 questions a day - Jo had gone above and beyond that by the time she was three, and she’d never moved into the sulky, silent treatment phase that so many teenagers entered. She’d be bugging Chris all summer, asking questions at work, asking even more at home, dragging him all over San Francisco and wherever else. 

“You’re sure?” Yes, Chris could walk now, mostly without the aid of a cane, but he was still in pain some days. And while Chris never really acted his age, always being naturally more energetic than his peers, he still got tired on occasion and had never fully healed from his experiences on the Narada. The last thing Leonard wanted was for his two most important people to get frustrated with each other. 

Chris’s smile faded a little.

“Len, really. I’m glad she’s here. I may not be able to have you with me, but at least I’ve got Jo for the summer to keep me company.” His face brightened again, as it always did when he spoke of her. Fatherhood looked good on him. “She’s so much like you, it’s kind of scary.” His brow pinched together and he frowned a little. “Actually, she’s just kind of scary on her own.”

Leonard snorted in laughter as he heard his daughter’s voice yell out from the kitchen as she finished preparing dinner. “Hey! Making you do your physical therapy exercises does NOT make me scary! Ya big baby...” Chris’s eyebrows were halfway to his hairline and his head was tilted, an expression that said clearly,  _You see what I mean?_ Len couldn’t stifle his laughter as they heard her mumble, “...Worse than Uncle Jim...” and Chris look shifted quickly  to indignation.

“I am not, you little punk!” Leonard tried to rein in his laughter as they shouted back and forth between the study and the kitchen for a few more minutes, until a thought sobered him instantly:  _I wish I was there with them_ . That was what he wanted his life to be like. Him and Chris and Jo. Happy and together, teasing each other mercilessly, ganging up on each other. Hell, even on days when they were all cranky, there’s nowhere else he’d rather be. 

He was only two years into his second tour and already he wanted it to be over. Sometimes he wondered why he’d ever agreed to leave Earth again, but then he’d be reminded in the most horrific way possible by having to sew Jim up from the pieces he’d come back to the ship in. No matter what, though, Leonard wouldn’t be signing up for a third. He’d done his time, Jim had gotten better at not getting himself nearly killed, and all he really wanted was to be home in San Francisco with his family, even if it meant talking to Jocelyn to convince her to let them have Joanna over her school breaks. 

It’d gone silent on the Earth-side of the call and Leonard could feel Chris’s eyes inspecting him as he wiped a hand across his own. At least he knew Chris wouldn’t mention the moisture he’d certainly seen gathering in them. 

“Hey...” Or maybe he would. “You have leave on Risa around Christmas, right?” 

“You know I do. You signed off on it.” A fact about which Chris was looking rather pleased with himself.

“Maybe I could get some time off and spend it with you.” He was trying to come off as nonchalant and, though it wasn’t working, Len appreciated the effort. “Hell, maybe I can even charm Jocelyn into letting me bring Joanna with me.” Leonard barked out a laugh.

“Yeah, like that’s ever going to happen. No way is she letting our little girl leave the planet, let alone to go to a  _pleasure planet_ , even with her father and stepfather.” Chris was smiling again. Damn, Leonard loved to see him smile.

“Hey! Who could she be safer with than an admiral, the CMO of the fleet’s flagship, and surrounded by all of the other aunts and uncles she’s managed to pick up on  _Enterprise_ ?” True. Maybe it would work after all. No harm in hoping anyway - as long as he didn’t get his hopes up too high.

“Oy! Chris!” Couldn’t she just walk the ten-or-so feet down the hallway instead of yelling? “Your food’s getting cold!”

Chris snorted and commented wryly, “Hmm... Now who does that sound like?” 

“Just go eat your dinner, old man. I’ll talk to you again this weekend. See if you’ve gone even greyer by then.” He missed being able to tease him in person. When he was home, Chris would usually spend the rest of the evening showing him the benefits of being married to an older  _experienced_ man. Chris surprised him when he didn’t tease him back.

“We miss you.” Leonard had to swallow around the lump in his throat before he could speak again.

“I miss you, too. So much.” Chris put his hand up to the screen and Len raised his own to meet it. “I love you. Both of you.”

“Love you, too. And I’ll pass that along to Jo.” After they each said they’d speak again later - they never used “goodbye” - they ended the call and Leonard was left alone in his quarters with nothing more than a few pictures and a few vids of the people who meant so much to him, the people who were sitting down to dinner in another part of the galaxy. He knew that what  Enterprise and her crew was doing was important and that he was part of something big. But nothing in any quadrant, on any planet, could ever be more important to him than the scrawny brunette teenager with an attitude, and her brilliant and attractively-aging stepfather who holds Leonard’s heart, waiting for him to finally come home.


End file.
